04/03/2025 - The producers awarded with the Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award at this year’s IFFR talked to Cineuropa about the future of the fiction feature directed by Thomas Woodroffe

l-r: Rodrigo Díaz (© Juan Pablo Ubilla) and Pascual Mena (© Estéban Vargas Roa)

Erratics, a production involving Chile, France and Argentina, scooped the Eurimages New Lab: Outreach Award, worth €30,000 at the latest IFFR (read the news). Rodrigo Díaz and Pascual Mena, Chilean producers of the film helmed by director Thomas Woodroffe, which we reported about during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (read news), answered our questions about their recent prize as the heads of the production company Fiebre.

Cineuropa: Thomas Woodroofe said in his director’s notes: "I believe in the possibility of cinema to be a ghost, to invoke voices from remote times and bring them back to life in the present". How does Erratics do that? Can you say more about the key elements of the film? 
Pascual Mena: The idea that cinema, or a film in this case, are ghosts, is a thought that we have developed from the ideas of several authors. In simple terms, a soul is in sorrow because it has left something unfinished, and therefore it makes itself present to us, it appears to us, in some way it needs our participation to complete their mission in this world. The same thing happens with a film, it can haunt us, it brings an idea or a thought from another time, from another dimension. 

It may also be that the same film, by bringing back something that we thought was dead or extinct, gets into a more extended process of films, in which the whole history of cinema becomes a kind of ghost. Ghosts or wandering spirits have always been and will always be in our stories, in our films and also in our personal anecdotes. We could imagine that when we watch a film, we are the ghosts who possess a body, the body of the one who witnesses, the body of the camera. There is a kind of transmutation in that, which is a relevant element of the film. The point of view is that of a ghost, we are behind the retina of that spirit, processing these images. 

Erratics is the story of Lucien Castelnau, the ghost of the french cameraman of this documentary who, after spending a hundred years trapped in the ice of a Patagonian glacier, frees himself and begins to wander through these lands that today seem so different and yet so familiar, trying to find a meaning to his existence. It’s a film about the responsibility of creating images, of making these images alive, and therefore, the use of a historical archive is the foundation stone of the project: this is an ethnographic documentary called La Terre de Feu, which was filmed in 1925 and found at La Cinémathèque de Toulouse almost eight years ago. This is the only motion picture record of the Fuegian peoples in their last nomadic era. 

The production company Fiebre was funded to produce this film and it's a partnership with Rodrigo Diaz and Thomas Woodroffe, the director. Can you tell us more about this choice, what led you to become producers and the journey behind it?
PM: With Thomas and Rodrigo, we made a short film, Austral Fever, which was a very good experience. It was stimulating, both creatively and in terms of production and distribution, and that's when we realised that the three of us complemented each other. From that moment on, we have been working together. We are permanently collaborating in other authors' projects and in different functions. The idea of creating Fiebre was because we wanted to have the freedom to work on this film with the time we considered convenient, but at the same time to take advantage of the knowledge we knew we were going to acquire, in order to be able to promote other projects with a line of work focused on language and cinema itself. Rodrigo and I have other production companies, but in Fiebre we are open to making minority co-productions and that has been a challenge because we are a team used to working from development and with a lot of creative strength. So that's what we are working on, finding a configuration for Fiebre and its next productions.

What has been the most important lesson that the Rotterdam Film Festival has taught you in terms of being a producer? What kind of impact do you think the recognition you have received will have on the future of Erratics?
Rodrigo Díaz: The Rotterdam Film Festival has been a space for learning about today's global film landscape and growing as film professionals. We were eligible for Darkroom because I participated in the 2021 Rotterdam Lab, which I attended remotely because of the pandemic. During the lab, I was able to connect with peers from all over the world and attend top-tier masterclasses that helped strengthen the production strategy of Erratics, particularly in project development, coproduction, and distribution, which we have worked on together with Pascual. Being back at CineMart in 2025 in the Darkroom section with a debut feature reflects the opportunities that the Rotterdam Film Festival offers to filmmakers.

Darkroom was a special place to present Erratics. It allowed us to showcase a nine-minute sequence from the film, establishing a first connection between the film’s material and the industry professionals present at the Darkroom Spotlight, where the WIPs were showcased. This was precisely our main goal; to understand how the film is perceived and to take advantage of the platform provided by the Rotterdam Film Festival through CineMart, engaging in conversations about the film’s post-production and distribution. We also received insightful consultations on music licences, editing, and festival strategy.

We are certain that the Eurimages New Lab: Outreach Award will have a positive impact on the film. On the one hand, it allows us to continue the post-production process, and on the other, it will enable us to develop the film’s outreach plan. Additionally, a recognition from the Eurimages New Lab Award helps bring greater visibility to the film and the main topics it explores.

Do you have any news to share about the near future? Are you looking into other markets for the film?
RD: After Darkroom, our main focus will be on continuing the film’s post-production throughout 2025. For now, we’re not planning to take part in other industry events, except for my attendance at the Marché du Film and other markets representing Fiebre. Darkroom was a fantastic platform and an invaluable opportunity to reconnect with agents from around the world, many of whom we first met at co-production forums like La Fabrique Cinéma and the Torino Film Lab Meeting Event in 2023. It also allowed us to connect with new industry professionals interested in the film. As we move forward with post-production, we will be following up with them and keeping them updated on the film’s progress.